Related Essays
.....ethics cannot avoid claims to universal truths, political philosophy cannot avoid the efficacy of universalism. Relativism is too convenient a response to resolving conflicts of interest and divergent views of governance. However, an alternative to the universalism versus relativism debate lies in Rawl's concept of justice as being the fundamental tenet of a constitutional democracy. Rawls also bases his concept of justice and political philosophy on the underlying importance of consensus (Baier, 1989). Interestingly, consensus implies a utilitarian ethical framework, which Rawls (1985) claims to move away from: "as a practical political matter no general moral conception… Continue Reading...
learn the fundamental foundation of conservative political philosophy. People need to be motivated by a deep inner drive to do good. The government cannot impose a set of morals or values, although the government does exist to prevent me from infringing on your rights or you from infringing on mine in an egregious way. Through his research in economics, Brooks came to the conclusion that free enterprise and capitalism do drive happiness—contrary to what socialists and many more moderate liberals believe.
Michael Tanner also understands the principle of… Continue Reading...
about Reason (literally deified by the Revolution) as well as socio-political philosophy regarding fraternity, equality and liberty. Hegel came to maturity during this era and for him, philosophy consisted of a clash of forces -- and the old world concept of philosophy (the love of knowledge/wisdom) was what Hegel sought to transform in The Phenomenology of Spirit, as he clearly states in the book's Preface: "To help to bring philosophy nearer to the form of science -- that goal where it can lay aside the name of love of knowledge and be actual knowledge -- that is what I have… Continue Reading...
consent of their people is probably a dictatorship or something similar [footnoteRef:1]. [1: Tuckness, Alex. 2017. "Locke's Political Philosophy." plato.stanford.edu. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/#ConPolOblEndGov.]
Hume
Hume took a rather different approach to consent. One example is when it comes to where someone calls their residence. Even if the moral significance of a residence area is known to all, there are some cases where it would not be free and voluntary. This is no small thing to many given that direct and free consent is seemingly necessary in a society. Hume, in one of his works, gave the example that a poor peasant or artisan cannot just pick up and move… Continue Reading...
Political Philosophy II: Theories of Freedom
John Stuart Mill's On Liberty is one of the foundational defenses of liberal, democratic government. According to Mill, there are certain core principles "that should regulate how governments and societies, whether democratic or not, can restrict individual liberties."[footnoteRef:1] Mill wrote that regardless of whether a monarch, dictator, or even a democratic majority governed, the only reason to deprive others of their liberties was what he called the harm principle, namely, that "a harm, an action must be injurious or set back important interests of… Continue Reading...
political philosophy became so important. What gave people their “freedom,” however, was still debated. The nature of freedom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was considered a natural right in some cases and a divine right in others. For example, when it was useful, people appealed to the idea of a Creator endowing people with certain “unalienable rights” and when nature was viewed as the source of life, the rights of man were considered something that just was.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen shows how… Continue Reading...
Political Philosophy II: Theories of Freedom
To answer the questions of why De Tocqueville and Mill think that democracy is a threat to the liberty of the individual and whether they are right, this paper will show that both De Tocqueville and Mill viewed democracy as a mechanism that could easily become tyrannical and thus overwhelm one's individual liberty. Considering that democracy in its various forms (direct, representative, constitutional) is capable of being corrupted (voters and/or representatives may be bribed, coerced, misinformed, misled, subjugated, harassed, mobbed, and so on), it… Continue Reading...
executives. Law enforcement, administration, and corrections are linked with politics on various extents and levels. Prevailing political philosophy and ideology influence the structure, organization, as well as anticipation of a society's criminal justice organization. As a result, these institutions impact the manners in which criminal law is implemented and administered and corrections put into place (Law Library, 2017).
Police agencies are part and parcel of the law enforcement. In a police agency undertakes its law enforcing operations in a political system that is corrupt, then it becomes just about unmanageable to eradicate and abolish the corruption within the police agency. In particular, it has been acknowledged… Continue Reading...
7 events.
200 CE: The rise of populist or democratic sentiments and political philosophy. Rome was not a democracy, although it was a Republic. By the 2nd century CE, populist tribunes started to make waves on the Roman political scene. These populist tribunes were mirrored by the uprisings by local governments and communities in Roman-acquired territories throughout the vast empire. With such a vast empire, and such a relatively weak method of centralized governance, it became increasingly impossible to achieve harmony and authoritative rule. It was not as if Rome usurped idyllic ways of life, so much as populist leaders did recognize… Continue Reading...
political philosophy embedded in the United States Constitution.As a result, “Du Bois criticized Washington for not demanding equality for African Americans,” (“Booker T. Washington,” 2017). Washington remains an important figure in that he knew how important it was to build bridges and never to isolate anyone from the dialogue. Woodson falls somewhere between the DuBois and Washington in that like DuBois, he championed a more comprehensive approach to erasing the deep-seated racist beliefs in the United States. In one chapter of Mis-Education, for example, Woodson specifically criticizes the backwards mentality… Continue Reading...
has become the increasing focus for researchers as well. For instance, Schiemann emphasizes, “To the degree that political philosophy is concerned with the proper balance between legitimate state authority, including violence, on one hand, and individual autonomy, including autonomy of the body, on the other hand, then interrogational torture is also an important problem in normative political theory.”4
Despite these growing concerns, proponents of the global war on terrorism maintain that the use of torture is justified given the potential for future terrorist attacks on the scale of those of September 11, 2001 and the need to protect the country’s interests at home and abroad. For example,… Continue Reading...
courts, in terms of procedure and also in terms of political philosophy; unlike civilian trials they can take place behind closed doors, barring access to the Fifth Estate. Therefore, when considering where terrorist suspects should be tried, the answer rests with clarifying what the intended goals of the trial are: to err on the side of caution even if it means convicting the innocent and overriding the principles of human rights; or to err on the side of human rights even if it means risking the release of a terrorist.
Pros cons of each tribunal
Generally, those in favor of… Continue Reading...
he started his rule, Claudius demonstrated exceedingly meticulous leadership. In particular, his objectives were outstanding, and his political philosophy was intellectual. In addition, during the course of his reign of the Roman Empire, the Romans reveled in general success and there were very minimal grievances and criticism from the provinces. Moreover, his brevity was showcased in the key achievement, which was the organized invasion and overthrow of the south of Britain (Roman Empire, 2017).
Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasian is another leader that demonstrated these qualities. In particular, Vespasian was a very practical individual; he was a man of the people. His brevity can be perceived in the… Continue Reading...
